despoil
/dɪˈspɔɪl/
"despoil" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“despoil” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To plunder; to pillage; take spoil from.
Corpus desk
Index EN-despoil · despoil · English
despoil · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | despoil |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /dɪˈspɔɪl/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “despoil” in English
Rare enough to double-check
despoil is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /dɪˈspɔɪl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for despoil in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English despoylen, dispoylen, from Old French despoillier ( > French dépouiller), from Latin dēspoliō, dēspoliāre. The correct English form is despoil, spelled D-E-S-P-O-I-L.
Definition
- 1To plunder; to pillage; take spoil from.
- 2To violently strip (someone), with indirect object of their possessions etc.; to rob.
- 3To strip (someone) of their clothes; to undress.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how despoil appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[T]here vvas brought unto him an horſe named Babylonius, vvhich happening to be ſore vexed vvith a ſuddaine gripe or vvring in his belly, fell dovvne, and vvhiles hee vvas not able to endure the paine, vvallovveth along, and happeneth to beſprent his capariſon and ornaments richly garniſhed vvith gold and precious ſtones. At vvhich ſtrange ſight he tooke…
a law which restored to them an immense domain of which they had been despoiled
Etymology
From Middle English despoylen, dispoylen, from Old French despoillier ( > French dépouiller), from Latin dēspoliō, dēspoliāre.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.